A large percentage of Australia have voted to legalise same-sex marriage after a countrywide ballot survey was carried out in the southern hemisphere country
The survey was not binding but paves the way for the Australia Parliament to make the move towards enacting a law that recognises same-sex marriage.
The non-binding postal vote showed 61.6% of people favour allowing same-sex couples to wed, the said. Officials of the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that over 12.7 million Australians took part in the survey and of these, 61.6% voted in favour of legalising gay marriage while 38.4 percent voted no. Participation was said to be high among voting-age Australians and up to 79.5 percent of this demographic are reported to have sent back their postal ballots.
Western media reports that supporters have been jubilating in public areas, waving rainbow flags and singing and dancing.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his government would aim to pass legislation in parliament by Christmas.
